One of two brothers suspected of opening fire on a group of migrants attempting to drink water out of a reservoir near the U.S.-Mexico border was also the warden of a notorious, privately owned detention center in Texas. Michael and Mark Sheppard were charged with manslaughter for the slaying that left one dead and another with a gunshot wound to the stomach, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. But memos and investigations tie Michael to a history of physical and verbal abuse with the migrants he oversaw at the West Texas Detention Facility until the site was emptied in October 2019. “I was then placed in solitary confinement, where I was forced to lie face down on the floor with my hands handcuffed behind my back while I was kicked repeatedly in the ribs by the warden,” one detainee describes in a 2018 report by the The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services. “When I told him, ‘I'll get a lawyer to sue you,’ the Warden responded, ‘We’ve got enough money.’”
